Today we chose to visit “One of the World’s Most Beautiful Parks”, Timna Park, about 30 minutes north of Eilat. For many people, the draw of Timna is the amazing desert landscapes, including hoodoos, dry river beds, massive sandstone cliffs, and even two cute little arches. For us, being spoiled Utah natives, the main draws were the Egyptian petroglyphs and some of the earliest known underground mining shafts. This area is full of copper ore, emplaced hundreds of millions of years ago by magma-heated alternation of sandstone and limestone rocks. The Egyptians send out mining expeditions in the 14-12 C. BC to gather and smelt this ore into useable copper ingots, apparently thus ushering in the Chalcolithic Age (aka the Copper Age) and then the Bronze Age.
My mother always said she would have studied archeology if that had been a choice for her in college. She loves everything to do with old, dead people. (Hahahaha. I’m one to talk, with my affinity for old, dead rocks.) She loves the Egyptians and the Sumerians and Aztecs and the Maya and and and…anything about ancient civilizations. She was VERY excited to visit this park.
Pose like an Egyptian! We’re not very good at Egyptian-style poses. Oh well. Photo credit: LaDonna
Not everyone chose to come. Eva, Gee, and Em weren’t interested, and Bradley stayed home to keep them company. So it was with a smaller group that we set out at 7:30, expecting to spend about two hours in the park. The other group had a relaxed morning, and then used the bus system to get over to a different mall to explore and have McDonalds for lunch.
Chrysocolla, turquoise, malachite–all copper ores. This large boulder was at the visitor’s center.
At Timna Park, you drive yourself around the area and park at various sites. Some of them you have to then hike to, some are within a short walking distance. It’s not unlike Arches or Canyonlands in that respect. Driving our giant van feels almost exactly like a geology van, so I was right at home. There were even (good) dirt roads!
Spiral Hill
We ended up spending a LOT longer in the park than we expected. LaDonna chose not to hike out to most sites (she definitely went to the Egyptian petroglyphs, she wasn’t going to miss that!), but the three kids and I roamed far and wide. The park was very empty–we saw maybe four different cars while we were exploring–which might have been on account of the weather. Heh.
What a day to spend four hours outside.Desert Pavement–a lag deposit created when the wind carries away the finer sand and dust, and leaves behind the heavier, larger rocks. Eventually, this “pavement” protects the sand and dust underneath it, unless disturbed by man or animals.Shrine at the smelting site. There are offering tables, a basin, and five standing stones. Archeologists have found animal bone and fruit offerings, as well as clay and stone vessels.The Mushroom–a hoodoo similar to those found in Utah’s Goblin Valley, but massive! Created by differential weathering–if a resistant layer of sandstone is on top of a less-resistant layer, the weaker layer is eroded away, leaving behind the “stem” of the “mushroom”.Scale is always useful! This “mushroom” is huge!My patient children, willing to pose for exactly one (1) picture in the sun.
Hebs in particular wasn’t thrilled with some of the things we chose to do (he got a little sunburned yesterday and didn’t sleep well last night), but decided to make the best of it and we all had a good, if HOT, time. Zee, Hebs, and Yum were total troopers, letting their mom and grandma geek out, each in her own way. I had the most amazing time, looking at the the ancient mines and techniques, not to mention the Egyptian stuff!
At the Egyptian petroglyphs site. LaDonna LOVES archeology, and this was such a cool site.The COOLEST petroglyphs EVER. (Seriously. They are more than 3000 years old!) Can you see the ibexes and tripods? (The tripods are Midianites, apparently.) And the dinosaur-thing? That’s an ostrich! My fav. Egyptian war chariots, on the left. Can you see the two circles with crosses? Those are the chariot wheels. This is so amazing to me!Ancient mining toolsAccording to the placard, the oldest known example of underground mining is found here in Timna Park. This diagram shows how they believe the Egyptians mined the copper ore.
What really blew my mind is how familiar this looks to me. I have watched videos of Tanzanian artisanal miners mining gemstones in this EXACT way–hand and foot holds carved into the rock, little niches following the ore, baskets carrying out the good stuff. Three thousand years later, and nothing has changed!There was a replica of the mining tunnel on the side of the information/rest area. Here Yummy is demonstrating her climbing prowess.And here is brother Zee showing her up–you could climb to the very top of the “mine” and pop your head out like a prairie dog.Perspective shot–hello, prairie dog Zee!Where’s Hebs?Hebs found a mining tunnel, carved straight into the sandstone. It was only about three feet deep, but originally was much deeper–drifting sand through the millennia has filled it in, and the park people have cleared it out a little so we can see it.She’s finally taller than him!!The mining pit (can you see the carved “ladder” hole for hands and feet?)Where’s Hebs, again? (Easy level)Yummy and hiding HebsDo you see two of my kids?More hand and foot holes (I forbade Yummy from climbing further, it scared me)Hebs quite enjoyed this part of the morning. He’s a big fan of scrambling around rocks in the shade.Love these two!Shadow photoZee, shimmy-ing up a rock chimney. This place was a free-climbers dream (not that any of us are free-climbers, but we totally watched the Olympic rock-climbing competitions, so we know all about it.)More holes. 🙂Evidence of mining–can you see the miners were following the red mineralization?More mining excavations. Seriously, the sheer amount of rock removed from these locations is stunning to me. Even “soft” rocks like sandstone are still hard.Long tunnel through the sandstone, following the green copper mineralization.Copper ore!Mining tunnels they actually encourage you to crawl into! (What a weird concept to this American-west girl.)More minesTunnels and tunnelsImagine crawling in there!Deep pit mine shaftAll of those holes are mining pits and tunnelsMore mineralizationSolomon’s Pillars (gorgeous sandstone fins sticking out into the desert)Hathor’s Temple! This is where the Egyptians and the Midianites worshipped–each to their own gods. Once the Egyptians left, the Midianites continued using this temple for worship.Midianite copper gilded serpent (but is it a flying fiery serpent?) and copper sheep figurine, found at Hathor’s Temple in Timna. C. 14th – 12th Centuries BCHathor’s Temple from above. There were stairs (both metal and stone/cement) that led up into the Pillars.Hebs!Yummy, getting very hot and tired and done.These pillars are HUGE (see children for scale)
By the time we made it to Timna Park Cafe, we were BEAT. Luckily, there was a lovely, almost completely empty lunchroom in which to eat our sandwiches and drink the lovely cold drinks and water.
Lunch in the air conditioned Timna Park Cafe. Thank goodness for cold drinks and sandwiches and very delicious chocolate croissants.
I’m super glad we went. There was so much for me to learn and think about and then share with my classes next fall! It would be so cool to do a mega-alumni field trip here–Geology of the Holy Land, what do you all think?
1 thought on “Timna Park”
Alumni trip- count me in! Thanks for all the geology posts!!
Alumni trip- count me in! Thanks for all the geology posts!!